Ubisoft CEO Says Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Deal is 'Good News' and 'Shows the Power of IPs' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 August 2023 / 4,421 Views
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot in the latest earnings call with investors spoke about Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition and says the fact the deal is going to close is "good news" for the gaming industry and it "shows the power of IPs."
"I think it's good news that the transaction can go through because it really shows the power of IPs, and where the industry is going," said Guillemot via GameSpot. "So there will be lots of opportunities in the future for all the companies.
"It also shows the value of IPs that can be on console and PC, but also mobile and become more worldwide brands. That's a fantastic opportunity. Microsoft is saying that the mobile part of the Activision deal is important. So all the investment we are making to be stronger on mobile is also in line with that."
Ubisoft is rumored to mainly be focused on the Assassin's Creed franchise. The publisher has confirmed five different entries in the franchise currently in development, however, there is a rumor there are 11 games in the series in at least the planning stages.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Translated: "Please buy us next! Anyone? PLZzZzZzZ!!"
Oh that would be fun.....honestly it wouldn't happen but I would want to see the internet reacting to Nintendo buying it. Like PS or Xbox buying Ubisoft would create a mess, but if (somehow or for some reason) Nintendo bought it it would create a hilarious freak out by the internet at large.
Fuck it. Microsoft buy them too.
This is such a "diss" against ABK. No, ABK's value is not just (or even mostly) in its IPs. Call of Duty is worth $2 billion in revenue every year, and they are able to launch a new version every year, with a 60 FPS target (even during the 8th gen when most games were targeting 30), and with better Day 1 stability than most other third-party AAA games. The Candy Crush team has taken a simple concept and kept innovating on it, and kept people engaged, for 11 years and counting. World of Warcraft still has strong engagement 19 years after launch.
ABK's value is in their ability to strongly execute, year after year after year.
And this guy thinks they're worth $69 billion because of Spyro, Crash, Hexen, and Guitar Hero? Ridiculous.
I'd say it's those factors you mentioned that make the properties so valuable. It's also the strength of those properties that allows Activision to fund them sufficiently to keep up the super high level of execution. So it's a virtuous cycle.
In fact, as I think about it now, I'd say it speaks very well of Activision's management. They have some very obvious, very big, very public flaws. But, they have done a really good job of executing on their core business goals.
Yeah, that's probably true. Anyone that can manage a business to the point it's worth someone offering them a $69 billion acquisition price is clearly doing SOMETHING right. :)
In fact, I originally predicted that Bobby Kotick wouldn't last 5 minutes after the acquisition clears, but this has gone on so long that memories of Kotick's hateful qualities have seemed to diminish somewhat, and he's been so helpful in getting this across the line that he may have endeared himself to Microsoft management. He may be given an offer to stay on now, I predict.
Mind you, he's also going to get a huge payday since he owns a lot of Activision shares, so he may be open to new challenges or even retirement.
Ubisoft isn't in a good place right now to warrant itself a purchase lol
Yves greed has singled-handedly tried to destroy Ubisoft. Ubisoft would be in much better off in almost anyone else’s hands, but not many can afford them.
Xbox won’t be allowed unless many of Ubisoft’s games are kept multi-platform and even then it’s unlikely.
There are other big publishers who can’t be trusted because the are worse than Ubisoft……
What an awful position to be in for a once great company.
